Successful San Francisco tycoon and control freak Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) approaches his forty-eighth birthday with some trepidation. For it was at this age that his father fell from his mansion roof and died. Nicholas receives an introduction to Consumer Recreation Services from his younger brother, Conrad (Sean Penn), and is informed that he is now playing 'The Game'. Nicholas soon finds himself losing control and threatened with the loss of not just his company and fortune but also his life.

A sprawling epic tracing the fortunes of several generations of an American pioneer family as they move West and cope with the Civil War. The film's several sections were made by different directors, including Henry Hathaway and John Ford. Spencer Tracy narrates, while Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, James Stewart and John Wayne top the all-star bill. Not to be confused with the 1970s television series.

This 1985 made-for-TV film tells the story of brothers, Helmut (Bill Nighy) and Karl Hoffmann (John Shea). Both come of age at the start of Hitler's power in Germany in 1931. Helmut, the brilliant but opportunistic student, joins the SS and eventually becomes a successful flag rank officer. Karl, an idealistic athlete, joins the SA and experiences the darker side of Nazism. When the SA is disbanded, he is thrown into prison and later conscripted into the German army. Brother is pitted against brother until their relationship, and the Third Reich, stands in ruins